NOTES AND QUERIES. 99 



caught a mouse wtth either. On visiting my traps one evening I found 

 that a Field Vole which had been caught had been dragged to the back of 

 the trap and then partially through the wire-bars, presumably by a Weasel ; 

 the brains had been extracted from the skull, and the flesh torn from its 

 back and shoulders. The traps set in the ditch yielded, besides a couple of 

 Long-tailed Field Mice, a male A. glareolus, on the 21st and a female on 

 the 23rd. Both of the Voles were dead when I took them from the trap, 

 although in neither case had thirty hours elapsed since my previous visit • 

 The fact that, with the exception of the Vole which was partially eaten, all 

 the examples of A. agrestis caught in the hedge were alive, seems to indicate 

 a more robust habit in agrestis than in glareolus. The traps were covered 

 with leaves and bents, and were equally protected from the cold in bot h 

 situations. At first I was frequently puzzled by finding a trap sprung, bu t 

 empty, the little prisoner having eaten the bait and escaped. I therefore 

 set some small-tooth traps, baiting with bread, and then caught several 

 Shrews (I cannot say whether 8. tetragonurus or S. minutus), both in the 

 hedge and in the ditch. They had, no doubt, been able to insinuate their 

 bodies between the wires of the box-traps, which were close enough together 

 to retain the Voles and Field Mice. Within the last few years the Short- 

 tailed Vole has increased in this neighbourhood to such an extent as to 

 become a positive nuisance on some farms; and it may be noted as a 

 significant fact that, thanks to the policy pursued by the game-preserver 

 its natural enemies are being gradually exterminated. A Kestrel is seldom 

 seen here now, and Weasels are growing sensibly rarer.— Chas. Oldham 

 (Ash ton-on-M ersey). 



The Pipistrelle in Confinement. — On August 26th I caught a Bat 

 (the common Pipistrelle, I think), which flew in at the open window. I put 

 it in a small wicker cage. After a short time it became quite tame, and 

 would take flies out of my hand. It was very amusing seeing it catch and 

 eat a moth. When the moth was put in, the Bat used to climb round the 

 cage, uttering a shrill, squeaking sound, making snaps at the moth the 

 while. When it had caught the moth it used to beat it against its breast 

 to stun it, and then commence eating it, beginning at the head. It used 

 to reject the wings. It ate an immense quantity of flies, sometimes as 

 many as forty small house-flies in a day. After living for eight weeks the 

 cat knocked over the cage, and the bat was either eaten or escaped. I never 

 saw it again. — H. Woollcombe (Morth Grange, Exbourne, N. Devon). 



Whiskered Bat in Cumberland. — On the 9th November last I 

 received a specimen of this bat from the^Solway. It had been caught 

 by a fisherman flying about in his cottage. It was identified as Vespertilio 

 mystacinus by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, who states that it has occurred 

 in one or two previous instances in Cumberland, — E. Tanpy (Penrith). 



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